Is the end near for Ludlow?
We told you Wednesday that there was a good shot that Martin Ludlow, head of the County Federation of Labor was probably going to resign due to an investigation into fundraising surrounding his LA City Council campaign.Today, the LA Times is picking up the same story. This is despite frequent denials by the County Fed's spokesperson to the Sister City, even as late as Thursday evening.
Should Ludlow be forced out, we hear waiting in the wings to take his place is Sergio Rascon of Laborers Local 300. We've been told there is an "internal campaign" on Rascon's behalf. Rascon was part of a group of labor leaders serving on city commissions during the Hahn administration who had headed up independent expenditure campaigns on behalf of the then Mayor. Former Mayoral candidate Bob Hertzberg called on Hahn to remove them from their commission seats at the time.
When President Nixon had to resign, it was left to then Senator Bob Dole to go to the White House and tell the President the time had come. Who will fulfill that role for Martin?
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 2/17/2006 10:26:00 AM
48 Comments:
Very sad, but no unexpected. As a dues paying union member, I am pissed off that my dues were improperly used.
It's good to know that someone is policing my bosses.
...how does Nick Pacheco fit into all of this? The LAT reports that he is one of the attorneys for Janey Humphreys, and that she intends to fight the charges. Does this mean she feels that she could become the scapegoat? Will NP convince her to cooperate in the investigation by naming names? Could MAV eventually be implicated?
"Mother of god, is this the end of Rico?"
Maybe it's the beginning of a RICO.
It may not have been Janett Humphreys' idea, but she signed off on everything and should have known better. She's no scapegoat.
Pacheco is one of Humphries attorneys. The other is Ricardo Torres II, the notorious scumbag that Pacheco completely disavowed. Don't hold your breath waiting for an acquittal.
Nick is going to take revenge on the Unions. Good for him. He has an axe to grind and will be a zealous advocate for Janett. These union guys have no excuse for misspending members' hard earned money.
I think it may be AV who tells little Martin that it's time to go. Or it may be CM Wesson who i hear was on him to vacate his council seat long before he left for the Fed. Maybe it will be Elena herself since she has so much love for him. Maybe they'll call his father in law Bishop Blake and ask him to do it. Of course Bishop Blake will be right beside Little Marty when he has his press conference announcing that he's leaving for "personal reasons".
Can't wait to read the Soulvine next week. I'm sure Betty Pleasant will have a good time with this one.
Give me a break 1:21. JH needs defense attorneys not ex politicos with axes to grind.
your all full of it, Martin is not going no anywhere. Sergio Rascon wanted the seat since Miguel's, he didnt get then like he wont get it now.
Martin rules
A Defendant with two incompetent scumbag attorneys who want to "fight to the death" for her will get what they fight for: Her Death.
They will walk away as "heroes" and go home at night; she will feel the full brunt of the prosecution's and the court's annoyance and get some time to think about it.
Confucious say "Man with blood in eye cannot see to hit ball".
She needs to dump these revengeful hacks and get some real solid representation, or pay the price for her stupidity.
As Forrest Gump says "Stupid is a stupid does".
2:46P.M. you are the purveyor of useless information. Sergio Rascon is easily one of the most respected Labor Leaders in LA. He has been asked to run for numerous offices and positions and turned them all down to continue to serve the membership of Local 300. Pragmatically, in this case, why would someone want to take a large cut in pay for a job with at least thirty leaders you have to keep happy to keep your job? Keep peddling your bullshit buddy, the smart money is on Kent Wong- out of the UCLA Labor Center.
i'll take kent wong over sergio any day of the week. but my money is on martin keeping his position.
ps. sergio only friends in labor are the few folks in the trades and most of them dont like him because his union tries to raid some of their jobs.
Didnt Alex P. put Janet Humphreys on a commission? Its Alex best friends with Segio? Didnt Alex "NOT" get the COPE endorsement?
Huummmmmmm.....
Could this be a play by Alex also to get revenge? Lots of folks are saying that Alex is spreading rumors to force Martin out and get his boy Sergio in there.
Antonio, Fabian and the rest of labor are not going to be to happy with you Alex if you keep trying to force folks to do what you want. better be very carefull.
Sergio Rascon?
Not if the Laborers recent move at the AFL is a precurser to moving to Change to Win. CTW member as LA Fed. boss, Nope.
5:27
great point!!! i had almost forgot about that. one can only hope you're right.
This is the thread that knows too much.
4:53:
You mean like Fabian telling all of Labor to back Cindy or else he would make their lives a living hell?
6:50
You give Fabian way to much credit. Didnt he want labor to back AV, which would have been a much greater benefit to himself.(but didnt get it)
Dont try to change the subject, Alex P. is just angry and will do anythin i mean anything to spin shit his way. Thats why nobody like him. he stands for nothing. his just out for himself.
nobody trust his sorry ass they just do things out of fear.
6:50
You give Fabian way to much credit. Didnt he want labor to back AV, which would have been a much greater benefit to himself.(but didnt get it)
Dont try to change the subject, Alex P. is just angry and will do anythin i mean anything to spin shit his way. Thats why nobody like him. he stands for nothing. his just out for himself.
nobody trust his sorry ass they just do things out of fear.
6:50
Is this you ackly bloging for your brother or filipe? dont think you are going to get a free pass at alex's seat after he is forced to finish out his term after he loses to Cindy.
The house of cards is starting to crumble. You don't think Nick Pacheco knows about all that money that Skelton got from the County Fed to oppose secession, then he turned around and took more money for Antonio's campaigns. And then Ricardo Torres is the one who got Alatorre to take a court ordered drug test. Anyone who knows Antonio and how he operates knew it was just a matter of time. What a bonehead Martin Ludlow is and now he's taking his two masters down with him - "iz we'z feeling sick masta?" Yeah, Torres will give you that sick feeling. All the feds need is a little bit of leads, and Nick has them. Stay tuned.
"Janett Humphries is prepared to vigorously pursue exposing the truth in this case," Pacheco said. "The district attorney's office will soon realize that they are misinformed about Ms. Humphries" and that their sources have an "unscrupulous agenda."
I bet Parke Skelton is wishing right now that Antonio had passed the bar. When Antonio ran against Nick in 2003, he benefitted much more from "ghost" union funds and workers. So much more that labor leaders got on Contreras case to help out Ludlow in his race - which was going on at the same time. This is how labor, under Contreras - operated, there is a long paper trail. Wait until everything comes out, Antonio will be offered a pleas bargain also.
Martin is a great leader who held the labor movement together while the wheels came off the AFL-CIO and he led us to victory against Arnolds vicious attack against us. Sergio Rascon wouldn't make a pimple on a labor leaders ass. Sadly Martin will have to step down and if we are lucky Kent Wong will take over
Kent Wong? Sergio Rascon?
What about Mike Garcia?
So, who was the rat that started this all? Who was McGreevey's source on the MTA article? I hear its Jim Hahn.
9:35
Nope. It was the county board of supervisors. They hate Ludlow.
Torres was, as I recall, the "scumbag" lawyer that had the audacity to say that Villaraigosa was just going to use CD14 as a "one night stand" to become mayor... and AV's suppporters were SHOCKED, SHOCKED at such a terrible accusation.
Stick a SHOCK in it.
Torres has been vindicated, and AV's buddies are just starting to be indicted.
At this point, Labor can't go wrong with selecting Kent Wong as Ludlow's replacement. All of the other possible successors have too much political baggage. Wong is truly committed to the principles of Labor. He is a great orator with intellectual credentials. Whoever it is should not be a puppet of the Mayor or the Speaker. This current dynamic is dangerous!!
What do the labor guys think of Paul Koretz (Assemblyman head of the Labor Committee?)
WE all know damn well that Ludlow isn't the only one who was using labor money to get elected. The FEDS need to investigate Antonio's campaign as well. We all know he used the same people and other organizations illegally to get elected. People start to talk when they're butts are on the line. Just like Pellicano, AV thinks he's untoucable. In this day and age no one can hide for that long and get away with it. AV will appoint Ludlow to one of his many committees.
Koretz has been good for Labor in the Assembly, but I'm not sure the County Fed gig would be a good job - personality fit.
"Why Mayor May Face a Labor Struggle
Villaraigosa's ally in the effort to win support for his budget and schools plans is in legal trouble." - from today's Times.
It's a coming! Just wait until the Feds find out what that SEIU money was spent on. It was much more than cell phones and "ghost" workers. Wait until they find out that these "ghost" workers were really "ghost" voters. And not just in Ludlow's race, but in Antonio's also in 2003. In CD 14 there were over 1700 unconfirmed votes. Pacheco campaign workers witnessed labor vans full of people running into voting booths. Not to poll check, but to vote. And they did this polling place after polling place. In L.A. poll workers don't check for ID's, just your sample ballot is needed. Getting a sample ballot is as easy as registering to vote or raiding a mail box on scheduled mail deliveries. Very easy. And made even more easier by Villariagosa's law that allowed registration just 10 days before an election - instead of the usual 30. Very hard to track "ghost" voters under these timelines.
Watch this story turn from illegally using union dues to electoral fraud. And watch Skelton run for cover. Cindy's race just took a turn for the worst. Alex actually has a chance now.
Can someone please help me understand what exactly Ludlow and the union are accused of. The McGreevy article did not make it clear. The story said the union ileggaly spent funds on Ludlow's campaign. What was illegal about the expenditure?
Unions are allowed to spend money independently on local campaigns. The system may stink, but it is legal. Unions, developers, etc, make IEs on all the city races. What was illegal about the one in this case?
I'm not defending Ludlow here. I'm just wondering what the illegality is in this case.
Anon9:35pm,
Who on the board? All five? Molina? Zev? The MTA thing came up around the same time as the Mayoral election which led me to believe it was someone in Hahn's camp or the MTA themselves.
I met Martin a few times and he seems like a good guy. Remember his antigang initiative that is now a ad hoc committee?
The whole thing is sad for labor and said for city politics. Any here we are stuck with fuckheads like Gloria Molina, etc.
"I am constantly amazed at the citizens of this Republic who read everything there is to read in the newspapers and then think they know something about the workings of government."
Thomas Jefferson
It is remarkable how much hate is out there. Pacheco was a Deputy District Attorney and I'm sure he knows how to handle a criminal case. I am glad to see he is moving forward with his life.
His friend Ricardo may not be the best campaign advisor but at least he's not facing a federal indictment like Antonio's friends.
The way Antonio hung Pete Wilson around Arnold's neck people are going to hang Martin around his neck.
What goes around, comes around.
First his friends, then Anontion????
F*ck Labor...its a dying thing, it'll never be as it was in the post-depression period and its because of all this back and forth power bickering that the movement get stomped on by big business. Open your eyes, they are laughing to all this crap and thanking god for this stuff. It's too bad this is the type of leadership the labor movemement has come down to. Its because of this that from the bottom to the top, it will fail. Instead of "taking sides" we should all be trying to develop a way to fix this for the greater good....otherwise you can kiss organized numbers below 5% nationwide by 2020.
It's a coming! Just wait until the Feds find out what that SEIU money was spent on. It was much more than cell phones and "ghost" workers. Wait until they find out that these "ghost" workers were really "ghost" voters. And not just in Ludlow's race, but in Antonio's also in 2003. In CD 14 there were over 1700 unconfirmed votes. Pacheco campaign workers witnessed labor vans full of people running into voting booths.
jesus, somebody take the keyboard away from nick.
It's Zev who hated Ludlow. And Villaraigosa for that matter, despite his endorsement.
Of course Zev hates A.V.
And, he hated Jimmy Hahn, and Dick Riordan and Tom Bradley.
Zev always wanted to be the Mayor of Los Angeles. But, when he actually had his chance, he froze, and then withdrew. Most agree, all he had to do was stay in and he would have won.
Ever since that time, he's been resentful of anyone that got the job.
Anons 8:45 AM, 11:14 AM & 11:14 AM:
Initially it was Burke. Ludlow was heavely involved in the King/Drew fight (he was for keeping the ER open). This pissed Burke off. Then Ludlow started throwing around the idea of an "LA County Surgeon-General" to take away healt-related decisions from the board, and give it to an independent elected official. This pissed off all five board members. All five county board members also sit on the MTA board. They were convinced Ludlow was out to dethrone them.
It's just a damn good thing AV-lovers have a boogie-man like Nick Pachaco on which to blame all dissent and sedition against the little dicktater Antonio.
Taking agood hard look at Antonio's little empty-suite (mayors office) might just be too startling for their sychophantic psyches.
He's a man, he's just a man...
From the musical "Antonio Christ, Superstar"
someone has it partially right. Burke was in on it, but she was not the only one. She actually used Wesson to deliver the news to Martin but he didn't listen.
Ludlow didn't have to listen. He built a coalition of hospital owners, doctors, and healthcare providers (ie union members). So what if Burke and the rest were pissed?
But then Contreras passed away and the project died. Supposedly Mark Ridley-Thomas picked it up, but I haven't seen or heard anything. The "Professor" is a little bitch if you ask me. What is he afraid of?
You guys all need to get a clue. The guy behind this whole debacle is none other than Nate Holden. Ludlow and Antonio took out his boy and in short, punked Nate in his own backyard. Anybody who knows Nate knows that he wouldn't take this shit lying down. Martin and Antonio forgot that these dinosaurs made their bones while Tony was hanging out at the Venice Room. This is just the beginning.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
One by one the "progressives" fall down; tripped up by their own sense of self-righteousness and their situational ethics.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home